THE SAMOA TIMES. "Sworn to no Master, of no Sect am I." SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1877.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Issue 7, 17 November 1877, Page 2

THE SAMOA TIMES. "Sworn to no Master, of no Sect am I." SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1877.

It has been stated from time to time In British Statesmen, that it is not EirdanJs policy to ald to her already large possessions by annexation. This his been the cry for years, and yet more possessions are being taken in under the protecting wing of Great Britain. When the petition for the annexation of Fiji was received, the reply was, we want no more possessions, we have quite enough to do to look after what we have already got, and yet the annexation of Fiji very .shortly after that, became an accomplished fact. Since the annexation of that Group of I-ilmls, Transvaal lias been added to the British possessions. When the news reached Eaglaud, that Saino l was desirous of a protectorate, tiie old cry is raised, and we find that the " Home News," of August 3rd, speaking of the matter says:—•• We have had a good deal In the annexation way lately, but Her Majesty's Government do not care to undertake any more fresh Imperial burdens than ' Fiji and the Transvaal for the present. In answer to Mr. Bixter, the other day, Mr. Bourke distinctly stated, that we did not infcand, in spite of an alleged rccommondation from the Consul there situated, to assum; oven a protectorate over the Samoan Group of Islands, The Cabinet is right. Annexation is at time; an imperative duty, but it should uever he allowed to degenerate into a sort of Mus lovite luxury of ambitious Statesmen." Whether this wid be the official reply, or nit, to the petition of the Chiofs, returns t> be seiii. However, wo do not see what wither Mr. Bourke, or the "Home N'ews " have got to be afraid of, for England was not asko J, nor, as far as we cas see, is likely to bo asked, to annax the Sim >an Islands, Tho tenor of the petition sent to England by the Obiofa was, that she would protect them from their own civil wars, an:l from the dailgru of needy adventurers. Mr. Whittnee, in writing to thp •■ Ltndon Timet," upaa the lubja t says, that sj far at nil ko t.vle I ;i of tha Samoan sharaetor goto, which ■

•■ <w in! Dti :; t i iv« up C: ■ reins '■■ I-' ■'• : - ■ ' ■ . ■ '. tb '■ '■■ : - i ■•• I . lin ■ . . nscion ... nous retire-l officer t> Samoa, to advise I in 1 a-si.,t the natives in th ■ g »vera nent of the country. And that the English 1. Uiverntnenl should pay him a suHL-ient sJary 11 allow him t > live with >ut iw resortin:* t. speculations iii his o:ii e. This, wo consider to be a very good suggestion. There can scarcely be two • ,'i-:inis upon the non-ability of the Saruosns to govern their country u.i- ---■ ' ij led !>y a iroe foreign t who could guide '• them aright, and we think tint 3 can onl } be dme in the mannersn fjested !>.■ Ax. Whitmee. liutthc one great dilii ukv would bo to get a truly cons ucutious y man to undertake the work. That thj I natives nee 1 some protection from themselves is sh . ,vn by the fact of the late war , r Jon Upolii, an 1 th • present one on Tutuila. t-1 If something could hj d >no by mc ins of which these civil wars would be put an 1. end to, it w )u! 1 1> metit, not only the n i.lv ••<, but the iner :h ints. For war in this country means the diminution of so many coeoanut trees, an 1 c >nse [ : 'ntly si much loss cobra is ma !e, which is the i, hick-bone of the trade nn.l Co inn rce of Samoa. Trade becomes stagnant, vessels which have been chartered to t ike the cobra away from the country have to lav here so much longer in barber before chey are iilied up, which tnean'i loss to .he merchant. So we think, th.-.t if s nne country would be generous enough to rive us a man capable of torching the >imr>vns how to govern thensdves, and keep from civ 1 war, there wuald be in 'ear of us wanting England, or any other ■ounf.ry to annex us. Another thing, it • .v.ould bo the means of saving us from • the c.irpM bug gentlemen, many of whom •s .re roaming about. If they are once "hie to wriggle themselves in o the . j I overn nent of Suno.i, we may possibly , J hive Fiji enacted over again, from which , J we say, Heaven deliver us.